July 18, 2007

Women, men, and Clinton

[T]he idea that the only reason anyone is supporting her is because of her gender is offensive.

I agree that this idea is offensive. I also don't think anybody has ever seriously suggested it. There is, however, a separate idea out there--that, for a lot of Democratic women voters, Hillary's gender is an extremely important issue. Enough in many cases to tip them into her corner. This is, I think, totally uncontroversial. It's hard to imagine this isn't the case when you consider that she--in a field of eight candidates--currently enjoys the support of more than half of Democratic women. At the very same time, I'd say it's equally indisputable that Hillary's gender is an extremely important factor to a lot of Democratic male voters--who don't much care for her. It's my humble opinion that both of these phenomena are unfortunate.